If only every struggling television comedy had a Lizzy Caplan. This episode of New Girl was by far its best. It came right out and confronted what has been the show’s ironic selling point and its main detractor: Jess, as played by Zooey Deschanel. I like Deschanel, I’ve liked Jess at times, but when you have a character who’s charming and goofy and quirky and, ahem, “adorkable”, you’ll run into some resistance. It wasn’t untl this episode that it became apparent that while the guys might roll their eyes and furrow their brows at Jess’ behaviorisms, they’re not outright frustrated. Nor is Cece. You need that resistance if you’re going to tolerate Jess, and that’s where Julia comes in.
Julia is tough and grounded and serious and sardonic. She’s not going to be dressed by cartoon birds, nor would she save a bird by violating traffic rules. She’s the perfect obstacle for Jess. The show deserves a lot of credit for pitting these two against each other, but also for making Jess look really bitchy at times.
The show could easily have made Julia the antagonist, the girl who mocks Jess, sleeps with Nick and actually has ulterior, nefarious motives. It avoids those trappings altogether and takes a much more interesting angle – and one which provided plenty of great comedy, like their almost-cry in the bathroom or their confrontation outside of the courtroom. Caplan and Deschanel were excellent in this episode. Comedy works best when its grounded in those real life awkward situations, and neither actress hammed it up for the benefit of an extra laugh, instead letting their characters become actual people.
Of the guys, while Schmidt had the funniest subplot (and really, Max Greenfield is terrific) and the show introduced (I think) a new friend for Jess who got in a few good zingers, thankfully this episode devoted some much needed time to Winston, to allow him to….you know, do stuff other than widen his eyes and raise his eyebrows at stuff the other characters are doing. I was surprised that the show even left the tacked on comedy aside and instead allowed Winston’s courtship of his old flame to develop. The comedy in this particular storyline might not have been laugh out loud, but it was sweet and just as strong as the main plot.
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